The idea that sovereignty does not confer upon the sovereign an absolute right to do as he wishes predates the 1990s. World War II, and above all the Holocaust, put an end to the principle of absolute sovereignty that had dominated political theory and practice since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ...

From the first Thanksgiving to The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans are well known to most Americans. But as Jim Sleeper reminds us, Cotton Mather and his tribe took more than one of their strokes from the ancient Hebrews—and the influence lives on.

For more than six decades, Europe sought stability and peace through economic unity. Turns out, eurozone unity also means sharing the financial pain of the most reckless members. This unexpected consequence has caused murmuring in the European congregation. Can more determined oversight save the Union?

Back in the 1930s, the great powers thought it wise to declare war obsolete. Never mind that it still suited some nations just fine. Fast-forward seventy years and the same illusion stalks the globe again—this time over nuclear weapons.

You will no doubt have been advised against adopting any view that seems or seeks to attribute all events to one single cause. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the absolutely central and consistent role played, in so many of our difficulties, by the People’s Republic of China ...